If you have trouble visualizing what you'd like but "know it when you see it", then at this stage you should probably just look at as many stainless / dark cherry kitchens as you can and see which countertops and flooring "grab" you. In my case I knew I wanted simple, natural cherry cabinets and stainless appliances and probably a wood floor, but that was it. Looking at lots of pictures helped me narrow things down, so now I can at least have intelligent conversations with kitchen designers. I'd suggest going over to houzz.com and entering "stainless steel dark cherry kitchen" into their search box and looking through some of the hundreds of results you get. It's a great source of ideas. After you see some you like, you can probably come up with more words to add to the search box to narrow things down. You can also go to google and enter "site:gardenweb.com dark cherry stainless" and you'll find lots of threads on this site too. I don't know of a way to limit it to threads with photos, unfortunately. Laura

I'm not sure how I came across this post, I think it was displayed on the right side and I clicked on it being intrigued by the tile making. I was at one time interested in working with papercrete and hypertufa. But after enlisting my brother, who wasn't as enthusiastic, and my niece, who poured cement down my laundry room sink, which original to the house had lasted 70 years, and ruining three blenders, my interest waned. True to form, if I come upon difficulty in a project, I think of it as a sign for me not to continue. And really, after all these years of trying various crafts that result in crap, I should know better. I also should have known better than to ask my brother, who always says it can't be done to any of my unique design ideas. And I should have known better than to ask my niece, who once stayed up all night before having to drive to LA for an art show, cutting mat after mat after measuring once, twice, sometimes ten times, but always coming out with the wrong size. I think we both have math dyslexia. I should video us trying anything crafty to see where we go wrong. I think both of us having ADHD might have something to do with it. Sorry for the backstory and run on sentences. So, I just wanted to see if you continued with your venture. And to say sorry for whatever tragedy occurred to cause you to have to move to Florida. Not that there is anything wrong with Florida, but it isn't Panama. Which is one of my favorite places in the western hemisphere. I hope no one is upset that I brought up a seven year old post.

nosoccermom, Yes those tiles were the ones we had actually looked at already. We definitely need a new floor, the old one has been really beaten up and in fact was only glued around the edges, and it's coming up around the wall in some parts, and overall looks dingy. We weren't sure how the color would fit in with the kitchen however. The interior designer recommended something called "grey washed" is what I have written down. I like the appeal of the luxury vinyl, they aren't cold tile, easy to install, and the grout is actually a better version than regular tile group in that it's not porous.

Well Mitchell, I think your kitchen and home are lovely. Your floors are really cool too! I know the mosaic is bugging you, and it probably would me too, however, it is still very pretty and will probably never be given a second thought by anyone but you and your fiancee. And like a few suggested, once you accessorize, get your hardware in, etc...it's not going to be such a focal point to you like it is now. So, if it turns out not to be such an easy fix, please don't stress about it. Your home is gorgeous! I'm a Texan too, going through a Harvey remodel, so maybe I've just finally learned to not sweat the small stuff with all this house business...as a matter of fact, I've got some "TX hacks" working downstairs in my kitchen right now. ;) Congratulations on your beautiful new home.